Title: Sandbox
Author: joshua
Published: August 1, 2022
Last modified: February 19, 2026

---

 1. [Installation resources](https://docs.parse.ly/installation-resources/)
 2. [Parse.ly Integration](https://docs.parse.ly/installation-resources/parsely-integration/)
 3. [Test Integration](https://docs.parse.ly/installation-resources/parsely-integration/test-integration/)
 4. Sandbox

#  Sandbox

[⌊The Parse.ly Dashboard depicting the use of the sandbox Site ID of sandbox.parsely.
com.⌉⌊The Parse.ly Dashboard depicting the use of the sandbox Site ID of sandbox.
parsely.com.⌉[

It’s common for websites to have pre-production environments to test code before
public release. These include local, development, staging, and many similar types
of environments. To help you test, we will provide you a sandbox dashboard.

We recommend testing the [Parse.ly tracking script](https://docs.parse.ly/tracking-code-setup/)
in such an environment to avoid conflating testing efforts with production data 
that your team will make decisions with.

## How to start

After purchasing Parse.ly, our Support team will create your Parse.ly Site IDs. 
You’ll have a Site ID for each of your monitored domains and one more Site ID for
your sandbox. We will provide a list of these Site IDs via email. From there, you
may proceed as follows:

 1.  Respond to our email with the location(s) you will test from
 2.   * If testing locally, we’ll need the IP address(es).
      * Otherwise, provide a list of testing domains.
      * We will allowlist the domains for the provided sandbox Site ID. This is because
        Parse.ly doesn’t track cross-domain by default. The sandbox Site ID won’t match
        your testing location. It will usually appear in one of the following formats:
         - `sandbox.example.com` if you only have a single production dashboard
         - `sandbox.publisher-name` if you have multiple production dashboards
 3.  [Add the tracking code](https://docs.parse.ly/tracking-code-setup/#h-recommended-methods)
     to your site with any of our supported methods
 4.  Note that sandbox metadata collection differs from production methods
 5.   * Production metadata collection occurs via [Crawl](https://docs.parse.ly/crawler/)
      * We presume that preproduction environments are not publicly accessible, i.e.,
        not available to our crawler. So, we collect sandbox metadata in-pixel.
      * To request an exception to our default settings, notify us via [email](https://docs.parse.ly/installation-resources/parsely-integration/test-integration/support@parsely.com?output_format=md)
 6.  Monitor your sandbox dashboard and [test your implementation](https://docs.parse.ly/test-integration/)
 7.  Make any necessary adjustments
 8.  Do you need help? Send us an [email](https://docs.parse.ly/installation-resources/parsely-integration/test-integration/support@parsely.com?output_format=md)
 9.  When you’re ready, [proceed to production work](https://docs.parse.ly/installation-resources/parsely-integration/test-integration/sandbox?output_format=md#test-complete)

## Alternatives

### Pre-purchase testing

If you [want Parse.ly](https://www.parse.ly/pricing/) but you first want tangible
performance details of our tracking code on your site, then you may [add our tracking code today](https://docs.parse.ly/tracking-code-setup/#h-recommended-methods).
In this case, you won’t have a Parse.ly Site ID nor the [Dashboard](https://docs.parse.ly/dashboard/)
to see everything in action. In lieu of a valid Site ID, enter your site domain 
in the format `example.com` like this:

    ```lang-html
    <script id="parsely-cfg" src="//cdn.parsely.com/keys/example.com/p.js" async="" defer=""></script>
    ```

With the script in place, [test your implementation](https://docs.parse.ly/test-integration/)
to ensure you’re generating pageviews. In this case, we expect to see a network 
response containing `idsite: genericconfigfree`. This indicates that you’ve successfully
installed the tracking code but that it doesn’t match an unlocked Site ID.

Again those steps are:

 1. Add the tracking code to your site
 2. Replace `example.com` with your domain
 3. [Test your implementation](https://docs.parse.ly/test-integration/)

If everything worked out, contact us to [schedule a demo](https://www.parse.ly/getdemo)
and learn more.

### Go straight to production work

We do not enforce any requirements to test our tracking code first. You may proceed
with [integration](https://docs.parse.ly/parsely-integration/) at your own pace.

## We’re done with the sandbox, now what?

You may proceed by:

 1. [Add the tracking code](https://docs.parse.ly/tracking-code-setup/#h-recommended-methods)
    to your production environment(s)
 2. Use your production Parse.ly Site IDs on your production sites
 3. Ensure that your:
 4.  *  sandbox doesn’t have your production Site ID
     * production environments don’t have your sandbox Site ID
 5. [Test your implementation](https://docs.parse.ly/test-integration/)
 6. Make any necessary adjustments
 7. Need help? Let us know via [email](https://docs.parse.ly/installation-resources/parsely-integration/test-integration/support@parsely.com?output_format=md)
 8. When you’re ready, proceed to the next step of integration: [send us your metadata](https://docs.parse.ly/metadata/)

Last updated: February 19, 2026